Forbidden (The Gabriel Lennox Series Book 1) Read Online Free

apples and almonds captured his eye, and his stomach ached to be filled. Wine glasses glittered beneath the chandelier’s crystal glow. He had a glass of red wine and pretended he sipped something redder, thicker, and warmer.
    During the meal, Sevien didn’t eat anything. He only smiled and asked for a refill of wine once in a while. “Gabriel, eat as much as you like,” he offered. “You need your energy, don’t you? And Nathaniel tells me that you aren’t getting it any other way . . .” He chuckled softly. “You’re my guest, after all. So, I request that you eat and drink.”
    He rested his hand on Gabriel’s shoulder while he spoke.
    Gabriel shivered.
    Sevien’s jeweled eyes looked wider and overflowing with something close to hunger. When he stared at him for several minutes, he felt a deluge of fatigue wash over him.
    Gabriel averted his eyes, trembling.
    After dinner, Sevien announced the presentation of the opera. Servants escorted Gabriel and Nathaniel to their seats and passed out leaflets to accompany the opera, titled The Vampire and the Maiden . Gabriel raised an eyebrow at the cast: Voltaire the Vampire, played by Louis LeBlanc; Parfit, the Maiden, played by Genevieve Delechevalier Lemaitre; her sister, Clara, played by Adele Lemaitre; Priest Monet, played by Michel Delechevalier. He didn’t expect the play to be of the classical nature. After all, Sevien mentioned that it would give him answers regarding Lilith, whom he hadn’t heard from since that day he ate of the fruit. He would have liked to let his mind wander to other things—well, only one thing—finding truth in Nathaniel’s story.
    Nathaniel nudged Gabriel with his elbow. “Voltaire, the vampire? How ingenious.”
    “But Voltaire didn’t believe in vampires,” Gabriel pointed out.
    “That’s what makes it so absurdly charming,” Nathaniel replied with a little shrug.
    The servants extinguished some of the gaslights, finally enclosing them in scattered darkness and mist. In front of the enormous window, one of the blonde women lit a torch on the stage. It glowed faintly, like the lantern of a phantom.
    A vast part of the ballroom had been transformed to resemble a barren and dark, foggy boulevard, where a single man stood dispassionate to his surroundings. This blonde, pale man symbolized the vampire, clad in black.
    The operetta’s plot proved to be clever, yet ridiculous. Throughout it, Gabriel couldn’t help but frown as Nathaniel grinned every now and then. For sixty minutes, the riveting duets, dances, and interludes of passionate duels were as dull as any other theatrical performance he had been required to witness over the year, and it left him unmoved.
    But then, a woman with long, black hair pirouetted in front of the vampire, dressed in a white gown, flowing from her shoulders to her ankles—an immaculate, glowing white, the color of saints, angels, and righteousness. A porcelain mask the color of dark cocoa covered her upper face. Her bare feet brushed along the floor, and she moved exquisitely in a dance of such innocence, like the dance of a flower caught in the wind’s kiss. Gabriel found himself leaning forward, captivated.
    And when she sang, her words more than her voice entranced him—not so much by her voice, but rather the words she uttered: Who wants to live forever?
    The vampire moved with grace and stealth. Suddenly appearing behind her, he draped his arm around her shoulder, his face disappearing in the crevice of her neck.
    Within two more scenes, the vampire kissed the Maiden Parfit three times. He murdered her by the end of the operetta. The black-haired pianist, who played the priest, laid her to rest in a short scene. In his surprisingly deep and beautiful voice, he sang an aria that revealed the meaning of the Maiden’s name, Parfit . Old French for untainted perfection.
    The name suited her. Even perfection could be spoiled. Humans always had a way of destroying paradise. In a melodramatic